


A Child's Heart

by Vic32



Category: due South
Genre: Emotional, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-25
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-17 04:39:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4652580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vic32/pseuds/Vic32
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sophie overhears some things people say and deals with them with in a way a loving child would.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Child's Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my friend and beta ds_Tiff cannot do this without you

Miss Honey looked over her class and sighed at what she saw. Every child was feeling the heat of the classroom. Glancing through the window at the blue skies she decided that art class today would be outside in the beautiful weather. The faint breeze should help the children, she thought.

Standing up Miss Honey faced her class. “I have an idea kids. How would you like art class to be out in the garden today?”

A chorus of cheers filled the classroom.

Clapping her hands Miss Honey instructed, “OK class, put on your sun cream, collect your art boxes and then grab a bottle of water from the fridge. Then we are ready to go out.” She paused for a moment and then added, “Oh, if you have a hat you can wear it if you wish.”

Once each child had done what the teacher asked they formed an orderly line and made their way out to the garden.

Every child had their favourite spot in the garden and sat there waiting for instructions from their teacher.

Once again facing her class Miss Honey smiled, “OK class, today you can draw whatever you want. It can be a tree, a flower, or maybe something or someone you love. It can be anything that you want. Have fun.”

All of the kids dived right into it, eager to get down on paper something they loved. Walking around, Miss Honey saw the kids drawing horses, cats, rainbows and even some cars. Most of the kids sat in pairs, giggling and sharing funny stories about what they were drawing. All but one child, that was. 

Sophie Vecchio-Aceto sat alone working on her drawing, looking both sad and happy as she worked on her drawing.

Sitting down next to Sophie, Miss Honey asked, “What are you working on?”

Sophie didn’t look up from her drawing as she replied. “A picture of my uncles, Miss.”

Miss Honey kept her voice soft as she asked, “What is making you so sad about drawing them?”

Glancing at her teacher Sophie spoke. “I’m not really sad about the picture of them, Miss. I’m sad about something else.”

Nodding Miss Honey gave a big smile. “That’s good, but what is making you sad? I haven’t seen our happy smiling Sophie in a little while now.”

Pausing for a moment, Sophie replied, “I’m sad because I heard other moms and dads say bad things.”

Frowning now, Miss Honey asked, “Bad things about what?”

Sophie pointed at her drawing. “My uncles, they say mean things about them. It’s not nice and it’s wrong for them to say bad things isn’t it, Miss Honey?”

Miss Honey saw in the little girl’s drawing a picture of two men in a love heart. They were holding hands and beside them was another man smiling, with what looked like a big dog jumping on him going for the doughnut in his hand. 

Sophie smiled as she told her teacher about them. “See in the heart is my Uncle RayK - he has the spikey hair - and Uncle Ben is the one with the hat. They fell in love when my other Uncle Ray - that’s him with Diefenbaker jumping on him – had to go away for a while. You see Uncle RayK came in and had to pretend to be my Uncle Ray and that is how he met Uncle Ben.”

Miss Honey was very confused so she asked, “So are they all your real uncles, or just one?”

Sophie giggled. “They are all real to us, but only one is the real one. You see Uncle Ray went undercover and Uncle RayK came in to protect him.”

Miss Honey wanted to be careful what she asked next as she didn’t want to upset the child anymore, so glancing at Sophie she asked, “Are you OK? If it’s not too upsetting for you, you don’t have to tell me, but I’m here to listen if you need to talk.”

Smiling at her teacher with tears in her eyes, Sophie nodded while wiping them away. “I’d like to talk, Miss Honey.”

Sophie sighed deeply. Far too deeply for a child her age, Miss Honey thought as the child began to speak. 

“It started a few weeks ago. You see my Mom is having another baby and is sick. So Uncle RayK and Uncle Ben moved in to help look after us all. Just for a bit. So they are taking us to and from school before they go to work. Their boss fixed their hours to look after us all. I heard some of the other moms and dads call them bad names. They said they are disgusting for loving each other and that they shouldn’t be around children for what they are.” 

Sophie took a breath and then continued. “Miss Honey, their love isn’t wrong. I’m only eight and I can see that. Why can’t those grown-ups? Miss, they don’t see how they look after all of our family, putting band-aids on when we fall, making dinner and stuff. Uncle RayK has gotten beat up protecting my uncle and my aunt Frannie, and my Uncle Ben does things like pushing a child out the way of a car and getting hit instead. How can people say they should die for loving each other? It’s not fair and it’s not nice.”

Miss Honey was horrified at what she just heard; she didn’t think it was going to be that bad. She took a calming breath. “Sophie, I am so sorry you heard them say all those things. It was wrong and we will fix this so they don’t do it again. Do you know who they are?”

Nodding, Sophie wiped her tears yet again. “Yes, I do know who they are. Do you think they could say sorry to my uncles for what they said?”

Frowning with worry Miss Honey replied, “Your uncles heard them?”

Leaning her head on her fists Sophie nodded. “They did and they were sad, I could tell, but they tried to hide it from me so I wouldn’t get upset.”

Miss Honey smiled and patted Sophie’s shoulder. “OK, once class is over I’ll call a meeting with your uncles so we can get the names of the moms and dads who did this. I don’t want you telling me the names without your uncles here with you.”

Smiling now, Sophie replied, “That’s OK with me. Thank you kindly, Miss Honey.”

Later, Maria was surprised to get a phone call from Sophie’s teacher to arrange a meeting with her and Ray Kowalski and Ben Fraser. She had no clue what it was about.

Sitting there with Sophie the three of them wondered what was going on. Ray asked, “Sophie, do you know why your teacher wants to talk to us?”

Nodding and biting her lip Sophie replied, “I do, but Miss Honey wants to talk to you about it because I’ll cry if I do it first.”

Maria took her little hand in hers. “Honey, is someone getting at you?”

Shaking her head Sophie replied, “No, it’s not about me, Ma.”

Ray looked at Ben and whispered, “Ben, do you think we did something wrong?”

Shaking his head Ben sighed, “No, we did nothing wrong. I am sure Miss Honey will explain”

The door to the right of them opened and Miss Honey came out. “Sorry for keeping you waiting. If you would all like to come in so I can explain why I wanted to see you all today.”

Ray leaned in laughing and whispered into Ben’s ear. “Why does this feel like we are getting called into the Principal’s Office?”

Laughing back, Ben whispered, “I wouldn’t know since I rarely had one, although my grandmother could be tough.”

Sitting in the classroom Miss Honey began, “Thank you for coming to see me today.”

Maria held Sophie’s hand as she replied, “That is OK, but why did you want to see Ray and Ben as well?”

Smiling to put them at ease Miss Honey spoke, “I’ll explain in a moment.” Then she turned to the little girl. “Sophie, could you please run down to Miss Lovejoy and ask if she could please make some tea and coffee for our guests. When you see three fifteen on your watch it will be time to bring them back up. It will give me time to explain to your Mom and uncles what is going on. Is that OK? When you come back we can chat.”

Once Sophie was gone Ray spoke. “Look Miss Honey, you have us very worried here. Is Sophie in trouble, or getting bullied, or something?”

Shaking her head, Miss Honey replied, “No. Sophie isn’t in trouble and she isn’t getting bullied. In the past few weeks Sophie has overheard some conversations from other parents and yesterday it all poured out during art class.”

Ben asked, “What was it about the conversations that upset her so much?”

Sighing deeply Miss Honey explained all that she knew and how it had upset Sophie. Once she was done they all sat in silence holding hands. Tears glistened in their eyes. 

Ben paled and Maria went quiet. Ray was the first to speak. “I was hoping she hadn’t heard what they were saying. I really thought that we hid it well from her.”

Maria squeezed his hand. “Ray, it’s not your fault. There are people out there who just don’t understand that love is love.” 

Smiling slightly Ray squeezed back. “Thanks, it’s really bad she had to hear it. I mean, I don’t know how they even knew we were a couple? We never do anything public ever.”

Ben added, “Some can just tell and all we can do now is be there for Sophie.”

Ray leaned forward. “Miss Honey, what can we do about this now?”

Clasping her hands together Miss Honey smiled as best she could. “Sophie will be back with Miss Lovejoy in a moment and over tea and coffee we will find out the names of the other parents. Sophie knows who they are. Mrs Aceto, is it OK with you that she does tell us?”

Maria nodded, “Yes, of course, I just want this fixed. It’s not fair that people still think that way in this day and age.”

Miss Honey looked at the family sitting in front of her and could see the love pour out of them all. “Sadly some people will never change, some are too afraid to. We can only stay positive and share peace and love to all.”

Just before anyone could reply Sophie and Miss Lovejoy came in with the tea, coffee and some cakes, smiling as they did so. 

Miss Honey spoke as they entered. “Thank you Miss Lovejoy and Sophie, this looks amazing.”

Miss Lovejoy smiled. “It’s a pleasure, Sophie was a great help. We had a fun game of cards and of course she won like always.”

Glancing at her Uncles, Sophie giggled, “I had great teachers, Miss Lovejoy.”

Looking at the two men sitting there who had turned red from blushing, Miss Lovejoy smiled, “I bet you did. If you’ll excuse me I must get back downstairs before Mr Whiskers eats the biscuits. That cat thinks that she is human.”

Soon everyone was seated eating and drinking for a few minutes before Miss Honey spoke. “Sophie, your Mom has said that it is OK for you to tell me the names of the moms and dads who said those things that you heard.”

Looking at her Mom and Uncles, Sophie nodded. “Ok, um, well it was Mrs Tyler, Mr Carlson, Jason Bobby’s dad and Tilly and Carla’s nonna and……” the list was longer than anyone thought it would be. By the time she was finished they had fifteen names on the list.

Miss Honey looked at the list and closed her eyes sighing; one of them was a minister and he should know better. Taking another breath she spoke, “I’m going to contact each of them over the next few days and call a meeting. I will let you know what happens. Thank you Sophie and Mrs Aceto, Mr Kowalski and Mr Fraser, it was so wonderful meeting you. I have heard so many great things about you from Sophie. I just wish we’d met under better circumstances.”

Smiling Ray and Ben each shook her hand in turn. Ben said, “Likewise, Miss Honey.”

Just before leaving Sophie stopped and turned around, “Miss Honey, can I talk to the grown-ups at the meeting? Is that OK?”

Miss Honey sat in front of the young girl. “If it is OK with your family and they are here with you I don’t mind. Just know you don’t have to, I can do this for you.”

Biting her lip Sophie shed a tear, “I know, but I want to Miss. Can I please?” 

Getting the nod from her Mom and Uncles, Miss Honey took Sophie’s hands in hers. “It is fine with me, so I will arrange for a day when you are all free to come in.”

Watching them leave as a family, Miss Honey hoped that she was handling this right and could fix this for them. 

Since Maria was still feeling unwell and Tony was away on a trip for work it was down to the boys to look after the crew in the house.

The next evening, Ray and Ben were in the kitchen cleaning up after the suppers while Ray Vecchio tucked Sophie into bed. The others were already fast asleep.

Sophie sat up in her bed with a book in hand to read before she went to sleep. She did have a TV, but preferred to read a lot more. 

Looking at her Uncle she asked, “Uncle Ray, do you think I did the right thing telling on the grown-ups for what they did to Uncle Ray and Uncle Ben?”

Taking one of her hands in his Ray smiled, “Sophie, you did the right thing. Not many grown up people would be as brave and do what you did. Standing up for people, I mean. We are all very proud of you”

Ducking her head Sophie’s lips trembled as tears slipped out. “What those grown-ups said, it wasn’t right. They were so mean and said hurtful things. I saw Uncle Ray and Uncle Ben’s faces, it hurt them. I have been crying since it happened, but I hid it.”

Handing her a tissue Ray replied, “Awe honey why didn’t you come to us sooner? We could have helped you.”

Sophie shrugged her shoulders in a very childlike manner. “I was scared, but I am glad now Miss Honey will help and talk to them.”

Tucking her hair behind her ear, Ray smiled. “She will. Miss Honey is a fantastic teacher.”

A yawn escaped Sophie’s mouth so Ray tucked her in even more. She fell asleep before Ray had even left the room. This whole thing was taking its toll on the child.

Ray made it the kitchen just as RayK was setting a cup of coffee down for him. “There you go, figured you could use a cup. How did it go up there?”

Holding the cup in his hands Ray took a sip. “Not great, Sophie is really cut up about this. She hated that you guys were hurt by what you heard. She wishes she’d spoken up sooner as well.”

The day arrived and all those whose names Sophie had given were there, all sitting in one room. One parent asked, “Anyone know why we were all called here?” She sounded annoyed.

Laughing, another replied, “It feels like we were all called to the Principal’s Office.”

Their laughter stopped as the teacher, Miss Honey, came into the room with Principle Lex. Mr Lex sat off to the side leaving Miss Honey to take charge as he was just there to support her.

Standing in front of the group of parents, Miss Honey began, “You are probably wondering why I called you all here today.”

Nodding, a woman replied, “Yes, why are we here? I had to cancel getting my nails done for this. What did our kids do now?”

Sitting, Miss Honey smiled and spoke again, using a voice she hoped didn’t betray her annoyance. “Your children did nothing wrong, actually your children have been wonderful. I am afraid it’s each one of you who have done something very wrong.”

Sitting forward, a well-built man asked in a very angry tone, “What do you mean? What did we do that you had to call us in like kids to the Principal’s Office?”

Turning her attention to the man who spoke, Miss Honey replied, “Mr Jackson, I will explain.”

Focusing her mind Miss Honey explained what Sophie and some of the other kids had witnessed. She explained how what the parents had said about Ray and Ben had made them feel. “So you see, Mr Jackson, this is a very serious and unacceptable behaviour. Each one of you could be charged with a hate crime.” Seeing they were going to interrupt she held up her hand, stalling them, “However Sophie and her Uncles do not wish this. Sophie wants to talk to you instead.”

The parents sat fuming. They wanted to shout and say how stupid this was, but a glare from Principal Lex stopped them. 

Miss Honey left the room and came back in with Sophie and her Uncles. Miss Honey whispered to Sophie making her smile before she stood at the top of the classroom. 

Ben and Ray stood hand in hand at the back of the room, ignoring the hateful glares from the parents. Their focus was on Sophie, they were so very proud of her. 

Standing in front of the class of parents Sophie was full of nerves, but she wanted to do this. She took in a deep breath and started. “Thank you for coming today. I don’t understand why you are not nice to my Uncles just because they love each other and happen to be both men. I heard the mean and horrible words that you used and it made me cry. I thought that adults knew better and wanted to teach their kids that hate is wrong. I’m sad that you can’t see love. All your kids are my friends and they love my Uncles and what you are doing is wrong. You need to say sorry to them and I hope that someday your hearts will know that love knows no gender. I’ll pray for you all. I maybe a kid, but I know that you were all very wrong. Thank you for coming today.”

The room was silent as the little girl stepped down and made her way to hug her teacher and her Uncles. Principle Lex wiped a tear from his eye as her words moved him so much. Moving towards her, the Principal spoke. “Sophie, I feel like going to get some hot chocolate, would you like to join me and let them finish up here?” 

Smiling wide Sophie nodded, “I’d love to. Thank you kindly, Sir.”

Once they’d left, the room exploded. One of the dads stood with a face of pure fury. “How dare you call us here for this crap? A child telling us what to do!”

Miss Honey smiled. “Yes, Sophie maybe a child, but she is wiser then all of us and I would listen to her, Mr Banks.”

Some of the parents stormed out, but four people approached Ray and Ben saying sorry and shaking their hands. 

Finally only Ben and Ray were left in the room with Miss Honey who seemed to be very upset.

Ray covered her hand with his. “Why are you so upset? Some said sorry.”

Wiping a tear from her eye Miss Honey replied, “I failed you all. They all should have said sorry, not just four. I let you down, I’m so sorry.”

Ben placed his hand over theirs. “Miss Honey, you didn’t fail us. You were there for us and I am sure those who did say sorry never would have done so if it hadn’t been for you and Sophie. Ray and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

Ray nodded at Ben’s words.

Teary eyed Miss Honey gave a slight smile. “Thank you, thank you both.”

Sophie came back in with Principal Lex after hearing what had happened. Going to Miss Honey she hugged her. “Thank you so much, Miss Honey, for helping my Uncles.” 

Hugging the child back she replied, “No, thank you. You showed grown-ups that a heart needs to be free and not to hate. You are going to grow up to be a wonderful young lady and help lots of people.”

Sophie smiled saying, “I wanna be a teacher just like you.”

The End.


End file.
